Life in Egypt

Friday, March 13, 2009

So the weather has perked up considerably since my last post. Spring has sprung, though of course here the nice warm weather, which is gorgeous, is comparable to a summer day in the UK! It really is delightful now, not too hot and lovely and sunny. We have had some days where its been sunny spells too, but even when there is cloud cover it is still pleasantly warm. The nights are still chilly of course, but more bearably so, enough for us to have been able to 'downgrade' to a lighter blanket !!!! ;-) No news on the building front as regards our land. The wheels of the egyptian 'red tape' (apologies for mixing my metaphors) not only grind slowly, but at the moment they don't seem to be grinding at all!!! I have been regularly reading a post called Ali in Egypt - do please read it to if you get a chance http://ventureintoegypt.blogspot.com/ this is truly an awe inspiring young lady and she certainly has a lot more courage than I do. I don't often like to get caught up in politics but really she is so right and I was moved to read her account, and I think you will be too.

Will post again when have any news to report.

Noor is fine and he is speaking more and more, though mostly one words, he hasn't yet made the connection to short 2 word sentances properly - he has managed it a couple of times last week and then since then has gone back to 1 word. He is having little tantrums from time to time, esp if you take him away from something he wants to do (usually something naughty!!) so we are trying hard to distract him as a means of discipline - I am not against gentle smacking but I don't like to do it 'willy nilly'.

I am happy to say that there's not been any thunder as yet, but there certainly has been rain. What happened to global warming ???????????? And in a few days time its supposed to be Spring................ still the earth here has been very dry and as winters go we have had quite a dry one, by all accounts, so most farmers I suppose will be happy (except any that were just about to dig their potatos up I suppose!)

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Well not quite, more like the potato farmers helper, but you get the idea. Poor lad, he's bored stiff here (me too if truth be told but that's another story) with no work to do. What with the worldwide financial downturn, all the business opportunities that we had in mind have pretty much dried up and/or now just isn't the right time to invest. He's not a happy chappy not having any work to do. He did work for a short while back in the summer for a local firm making fibreglass kitchen units (very popular out here in Egypt) but it wasn't really for him. Anyway, the potato season has just started again (there are 2 here, this first one, called the winter season) and the next one in May (not surprisingly called the summer season). So anyway he's off doing that for a while. He did a few days last week. Had yesterday off, and is back doing it today. He goes to the piece of land that his Uncle is buying the potatoes from, there are men and machinery there that dig up the potatoes, he then works alongside another man bagging the potatoes. Basically they decide which potatoes are good enough to go to market, then they stitch the bags up. The pay isn't great, but then he's not doing it for the money. But they get a big bag of potatos each day included and sometimes the farmer gives them a tip too (a tenner if they're lucky but its better than a slap in the face). The potatoes that don't go to 'market' are ones with blemishes, very small potatoes, potatoes with cuts in them etc, but these don't get wasted, they go to my Uncle who them sells them locally to people at a reduced price. Even ones that are going bad get sold off cheap for animal food (e.g. the cows eat them), so nothing gets wasted. Of course poor old me is left her on her ownsome - well not quite as I have Noor - but actually in many ways thats not a bad thing, as it gives me a little time to get online, as when Reda is here its not so easy. Plus he can sometimes be a bit of a 'bear with a sore head' but when he's been working he is usually in a much better mood. He's really not the type of person who can sit around the house, or in the coffee shops etc, doing nothing, he needs to be working; and I guess I should be thankful for that. TTFN. Stella x

I just wanna say thanks ........... Its lovely to get back in touch with people I knew from times gone by and to have a 'chat' online etc. Its great to have the technology now to get back in touch and stay in touch from time to time.

"...and our cries and laughter rolled away toward the time-dissolving everness of the sea.For this is what we do. Put one foot forward and then the other. Lift our eyes to the snarl and smile of the world once more. Think. Act. Feel. Add our little consequence to the tides of good and evil that flood and drain the world. Drag our shadowed crosses into the hope of another night. Push our brave hearts into the promise of a new day. With love: the passionate search for a truth other than our own. With longing: the pure, ineffable yearning to be saved. For so long as fate keeps waiting, we live on. God help us. God forgive us. We live on."

Stole this from a blog I am 'watching' - beautiful words. Just thought I'd share it with anyone watching this blog too.

Friday, January 30, 2009

This is of course my first proper 'taste' of the Egyptian winter. We did of course marry in Cairo in the month of December and I have holidayed in Sharm during February (which is generally wamer than this part of Egypt) but this is the first 'long term' stay in the country during the winter season.What has surprised me – though really it should not have done – is just how cold it seems. Of course its not cold like England is cold. We haven't seen temperatures of only 6 or 7 degrees, or in the minus for that matter, but I guess after finally starting to – to some degree – 'acclimatise' to the hotter weather, this cooler weather can be a bit of a shock.

Life dear old blighty the weather is quite changeable from one day to the next. I forget when now exactly, but I guess it probably was October, we did have some rain – so far a total of 4 days only – and when it does rain boy is it a pain in the wotsit. Mainly because of the design of the houses here – though our new house is being designed to take this into consideration thank God.

Outside, the weather in the sun in sheltered places can get quite hot, easily as hot as a hot day in England, at well over 26 degrees, on other days it can be cloudy and quite chilly, with a cold wind, and can go as low as around 14 degrees. The night times are all chilly, indoors its been as low as 14.2 degrees at night time, and as the houses are built for hot summers there is a lack of any adequate heating, though we do have good thick blankets in bed and we have put the air conditioning on 'heat' which does warm the bedroom up nicely. That said, some nights have been warmer, with the temperature inside up to around 19 degrees C, so very up and down.

We are now approaching the end of January and already, in general, I have seen an increase in both the daytime and night-time temperatures, though having said that yesterday was a bit of a blip – it was warm up until around an hour before sunset then it turned very chilly and was a very cold night. I'm hoping it was a one off. I am told that usually things start to warm up from next month. I will keep you updated ……… Any questions, please post a comment and I will be happy to provide them, or if you just want to chat . . . . . . .

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Mind you, in the few days that I have had it, the electric supply has been down twice, so in fact I have still had probs accessing the net !!! Fingers crossed it will help me to update here more often though, not that there's anything much to report.

The hubby is calling me now so have to go. Hope to be back soon to put on an update about Noor . . . . .